It's time for Fallacy Friday! Appeal to Tradition:

An appeal to tradition, or argumentum ad antiquitatem, is an informal logical fallacy that people often used to justify the status quo, but falsely insists that historical preference is correct without evidence. The line of reasoning includes a premise that X is traditional or common practice to conclude that X is therefore better. For example, bloodletting was a primary treatment to cure illness or disease for thousands of years before being discredited as harmful. Of course, an appeal to novelty – new things are better than old – is equally fallacious. To avoid committing both fallacies, age must be pertinent to the claim such would be the case with wine. If arguing that claim X has stood the test of time, you need to successfully prove it has stood up to tests and challenges in which the weight of evidence makes the claim reasonable. Often, in negating a resolution, an appeal to tradition is used to defend a position as defensible, but in doing so critical analysis is replaced with slackness. Remember, as Phi Kappans, we seek to question history, not affirm it.

Happy Birthday Brother Kim!

Happy Birthday to our own Brother Seong Kim! May you have a day as cheerful and memorable as your presence in Phi Kappa Hall on Thursday nights!

Happy Birthday Brother Hattori!

The Phi Kappa Literary Society would like to extend the happiest of birthday wishes to our beloved clerk, Brother Austin Hattori. Thank you for shining so brightly in our hall; have the wonderful day that you deserve!

Phi Kappa Throwback Thursday!

Should the United States make all foreign arms sales illegal?

Please join the Phi Kappa Literary Society this Thursday evening at 7p.m. as we debate the resolution BIHR: The United States should make arms sales to all foreign countries illegal. Brother Grantham will be first affirming and Sister Hobby wil be first negating. The definitions are as follows:

• United States: Departments, military agencies, and private contractors of the federal government of the United States of America and its territories
• should: The potential benefits outweigh both the potential detriments and the status quo,
• arms sales: Transactions involving the exchange of military-grade weapons or any other implement whose main purpose is that of combat or warfare,
• foreign countries: Sovereign governments recognized by the United States, paramilitary organizations (politicized or otherwise), and private military contractors with bases of operation outside of the United States and its territories,
• illegal: in violation of a law, executive order, or ordinance of the United States.